I have drunk this tea before, but today I tried blending it with Dragonwell. I am hoping it will be a light and healthy complement to this strongly fruity black tea. Dragonwell has always seemed to me to be the fruitiest of the green teas, so I generally pair it with teas that are a bit stronger on the fruit. So far so good with other experiments.

I steeped the whole thing for about 1 1/2 minutes at a fairly low temperature (I didn’t measure, but it was well before boiling). The steeped leaves smell very vegetal (I would expect that, since black teas generally release all their goodies in one go, whereas the Dragonwell in this mix would just be getting warmed up). The liquid smells quite like I thought it would—not strong, just fruity and somewhat grassy.

As I tend not to like black teas without any sweetener, to the first cup I added about 1/2 a teaspoon of a solid gold honey (a Teavana product, the Hawaiian Lehua Gold). The first sip hinted at fruitiness, but not strongly. After a couple of sips, I don’t get the impression that the Peach Cran-Tango had enough time to release its flavors, because I’m getting a lot of the Dragonwell. Now that it’s cooled off a little, I think I’ll let the mixture steep a tiny bit more and see how that goes with the second cup. Adding about 1/4 a teaspoon of turbinado sugar helped the fruit come out a good deal!

The second cup tasted a lot the same, probably because the water had cooled a good bit. I think what really helps this blend to taste like it should is the addition of sugar, which doesn’t seem to dumb down the Dragonwell at all. Overall, a good blend.

Although this tasting note was mostly about the blend, Peach Cran-Tango is a pretty good tea by itself. I don’t often drink it by itself, but it’s a nice fruit tea if I’m in the mood for a specific fruit flavor, rather than just a vaguely fruity palate.

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I very clearly remember my first experience with tea. It was in a Target near my house, and my best friend handed me a cup of chai from the Starbucks inside the store and said, “Try this.” I believe I was about 12 at the time, and from then on, I was completely hooked.

Anyway, as my increasingly weirded out family will tell you, my obsession with tea has (almost) steadily escalated since then. I discovered the world of tea slowly, first with just chai, and then with bagged teas I could get from supermarkets and specialty stores, and then with loose leaf teas. I mostly shop for tea at Teavana, but I also patronize other local shops that I’ve discovered within the last couple of years. I’ve ordered a smattering of teas from a few online places, but I’m always leery of buying tea online, since most of how I select teas in person is by smell… unless I’m at The English Tea Room.

My favorite types of tea are blacks and flavored blacks. And oolongs. Right underneath that are rooiboses and whites, and then greens and herbals, and then mates. I’m always looking for a new favorite, but I appreciate rediscovering old favorites. I like to blend teas, but I never store them that way, mostly because I like to leave myself options.

I prefer nutty/sweet/rich teas to fruity/light-flavored teas or bold/full-bodied teas, but I do try to drink some of everything to widen my palate. I’m always willing to try any tea at least once (except this one tea that Teavana mercifully discontinued… the loose leaf smelled like cheese, I swear). I do perhaps rate teas a little leniently… because I’m not very picky. I will try a tea at least three times before I pronounce that I hate it, and I will always focus on the good aspects of a tea rather than the bad. That’s just how I roll. :3